Geocache game forces Wal-Mart evacuation in PA

[TeamMina]

OIL CREEK TOWNSHIP — A treasure-hunting game apparently caused the evacuation of the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Route 8 outside of Titusville for several hours Tuesday.

A suspicious small black box was found in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in Oil Creek Township around 10:30 a.m., according to Pennsylvania State Police at Corry.

The box was discovered to contain small items used in a global positioning system Internet game after the store was evacuated as a precaution, according to police.

Tuesday’s incident was the second one involving a suspicious package outside a Wal-Mart in northwestern Pennsylvania in as many days. On Tuesday, a bag was left outside the Clarion Wal-Mart.

There were between 40 and 50 people in the Titusville Wal-Mart at the time of the police-ordered evacuation after the package was discovered, according to a Wal-Mart employee who did not want to be identified.

There were no injuries reported and the Erie Police Depart-ment bomb squad was called in to dispose of the box. It was destroyed in the parking lot by the bomb squad around 1 p.m. The store reopened about 1:20, according to store officials.

Tuesday’s incident was the fourth time in recent weeks the Erie Police bomb squad has had dispose of such an item, said Sgt. Dave Hudson of the Erie Police bomb squad.

Such boxes have been placed in public areas without permission as part of a game called geocaching, said Hudson.

It’s a game played around the world by persons equipped with a global position system or GPS device in which players are to locate hidden containers called geocaches that are placed outdoors, according to the Internet site geocaching.com

A geocacher can place a geocache anywhere in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache’s existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache, according to the Internet site.

There are no suspects in the case and persons with any information are asked to contact state police at Corry.

[McCombRef]

They evacuated a store because a small box was found in the parking lot???

I wonder if the chief of police has a brother on the Urbana Police Department.

[GoodDog]

I foresee big changes coming from GC. Someone's going to sue them and/or cache owners. This is getting too prevalent. On the plus side maybe this will be the death of guardrail and skirtlifter micros. And yes, I am a little guilty, but too much.

[cheechgang]

This one had permission of the WalMart manager AND was a lock and lok in the bushes at the outer edge of the parking lot.

[cachergirl27]

Overreaction? Yup!
I agree with McComb Ref, probably has a relative in Urbana!

[GizmoGuy411]

cheechgang wrote:

This one had permission of the WalMart manager AND was a lock and lok in the bushes at the outer edge of the parking lot.

So the manager will probably be fired, and a corp wide email will be sent to all other managers banning such dangerous activities!

At his rate, we may start hearing about suspicious containers in the middle of forests being exploded by bomb squads too!

[3olivos]

Tuesday’s incident was the fourth time in recent weeks the Erie Police bomb squad has had dispose of such an item, said Sgt. Dave Hudson of the Erie Police bomb squad.

Sounds like it's time for a new levy. Can't ask for more if you haven't used up all the old.

[Mighty_Mo]

GoodDog wrote:

I foresee big changes coming from GC. Someone's going to sue them and/or cache owners. This is getting too prevalent. On the plus side maybe this will be the death of guardrail and skirtlifter micros. And yes, I am a little guilty, but too much.

I agree with GD things will change. The police may be over reacting but they are acting in the interest of "public safety". There are costs associated with these activities and the someone will pay.

A possible solution would be education of the various police departments as what geocaching is and how to spot them. I wonder if this cache was camo or clear with a geocaching sticker on it.

Yep things will change.

[Memsochet]

There are no suspect? All the cops had to do was look on the sight for a cache owner.

Good thing it wasn't hidden at the local donut shop.

If they have already blown up 3 others, wouldn't you think it they could \ would look on the site first for a possible cache.

[Mighty_Mo]

memsochet wrote:

There are no suspect? <snip>

I don't see the problem. They know it was a geocache. they know the coordinates. A cache can't be published within 528 feet of another cache. So they go to geocaching.com enter the coordinates and find the published cache and the owner. Then contact geocaching.com and they identify the owner.

[GrizzFlyer]

C'mon, you guys know the Free World as we know it will come to a complete stop if somebody blows up a bush on the edge of a WalMart.

Wa-a-a-a-a-y over-reacting.

[cheechgang]

Now if we could just get the bomb squad to react to the Hans Brinker cache then we would have something.

[GizmoGuy411]

memsochet wrote:

... wouldn't you think it they could \ would look on the site first for a possible cache.

But you miss the point! Then they would have missed the opportunity to blow something up! That would be no fun, plus then they would have no fees to try to charge someone with!